Friday, November 24, 2006

Jalalabad - Green

On Sunday I went to Jalallabad or J-Bad as we call it with a group of 2nd BDE guys and some of the new Marines to join 2nd BDE. It was not a complete boondoggle for me but just about. The 14-year old boy that was sexually assaulted a couple of weeks ago lives down that way and I was hoping to be able to locate his village, go there, meet with him and get a statement. Unfortunately that part of our mission was not a success. I’ll talk about that later.

We were there for 4 days and it was a great trip. The weather was absolutely perfect. It was in the mid-70’s during the day and got down into the 40’s at night. I’m told that the summers are unbearably hot and humid. Our guys that went straight there said it was just like going back to Phoenix. I would have hated that.

The elevation is low enough and they’re far enough south that they don’t’ get any snow in the wintertime. Roses and other flowers bloom all winter long. If the weather was as pleasant as it was while we were there, I wouldn’t mind spending the winter there. It was absolutely gorgeous.

Everything was so green, something we don’t see a lot of here. We actually saw grass, yes real grass. I had almost forgotten what grass looked like. At the King’s Winter Palace, now the Governor’s Mansion, I had to go and walk on the grass, kneel down and actually touch it. It felt great. I would have lied down on the grass but it was still wet with dew and didn’t figure that would look too dignified. I mean I am a dignified LTC and JAG officer.

Trees are everywhere and these are not the little saplings we have here but old, ancient, huge trees. Some of the streets we drove down were lined with trees and their branches and leaves hung down over the road creating the feeling of driving through a tunnel. It was beautiful.

Flowers and flowering trees were everywhere. Beautiful gardens were just about everywhere we went. Some were not as well-kept as others but they were still gardens nontheless. Afghans create recessed gardens that are divided by walkways. The paths are lined with brick and it creates a really nice look. I’m sure they growing plots are recessed so they can water them with flood-irrigation. It’s a pretty cool idea.

Since I don’t want to be as long-winded as Tigger, I’ll cut this short. I’ll break up my trip in multiple entries so as not to be too long winded. I mean, I wouldn’t want to be criticized for writing too much, you know vomiting all over the paper. Besides I’m not feeling too creative right now so will end this by saying that JBad was quite beautiful.

That's me standing on the other side of the reflecting pool/fountain at the Governor's mansion.This is one of my most favorit flowering trees. I think it's "bouganvilla" (sorry about the spelling). They had them in the Domincan Republic. These were everywhere. I wish they grew in Utah

JBad is so green because of the abundance of water that flows through the valley.